FRED TANNEAU
With a double from Mason Greenwood and another from Luis Henrique, Marseille won easily (5-1) in Brest, which sank defensively, for the first time for Roberto De Zerbi on the bench, Saturday, during the first day of Ligue 1.
Thanks to this thunderous victory, Marseille temporarily takes the lead in the championship ahead of Paris SG, who “only” won 4-1 in Le Havre on Friday.
The many observers intrigued, not to say seduced, by Marseille’s recruitment on the pitch and on the bench got their money’s worth.
Varied play, clean ball recovery, already integrated passing circuits and ruthless realism in front of goal, the “De Zerbi touch” has already made itself felt, even if the generosity of the Breton rearguard has contributed to it.
The Italian wizard had, as usual, prepared his move very well and identified the opposing left flank, orphaned by Bradley Locko, out for the entire season due to a ruptured Achilles tendon, as the zone to attack.
A blessing for Greenwood, involved in all five Marseille goals and who made OM transfer Jordan Amavi go through hell.
From the 3rd minute, ideally launched by Amine Harit who led the score with a master hand, he slipped behind the red defense to deceive Marco Bizot from close range (1-0, 3rd).
In the 26th minute, he overflowed into the action which led to Luis Henrique’s first goal (2-0), before converting a penalty obtained by Harit five minutes later (3-0, 31st).
– Rulli stops almost everything –
Half-time did not cut his momentum as he again ran down the wing, this time on the left, before seeing Brendan Chardonnet push his tight cross into the feet of Henrique who only had to finish (4-1, 48th). And he finally obtained a second penalty for OM, the third of the match, which he left to Elye Wahi so that he too could sign his arrival in the club with a goal (5-1, 69th).
Apart from Greenwood, Geronimo Rulli, in goal, also distinguished himself in a match where Brest did not demerit offensively and put him to work several times.
The Argentinian goalkeeper notably stopped a penalty taken by Romain Del Castillo in the 9th minute, to prevent Brest from equalizing at 1-1.
Ludovic Ajorque, with a header (17th), a superb volley from Mathias Pereira Lage at the edge of the area (18th), a slightly lucky exit in front of Jérémie Le Douaron (24th) or even a save on a shot from Del Castillo at the very end of the match (83rd), are also to his credit.
On the other hand, he could do nothing about a sublime attempt by Mahdi Camara at the end of added time in the first half (3-1, 45+5), but this goal ultimately remained just a mishap.
Having qualified for the Champions League thanks to their third place last season, Brest will have to quickly recover from this slap in the face.
For the trip to Lens next weekend, the Finistériens will recover Hugo Magnetti in midfield and Abdoulaye N’Diaye in defense who were suspended. But they will still have to do without Pierre Lees-Melou and Locko for weeks. The club will really have to work twice as hard on the transfer market to strengthen a squad that is too weak, especially up front.
Marseille, for its part, will welcome Reims in a Vélodrome which will certainly have very high expectations after the demonstration in Brest.
